- Naoki Yoshida
- Producer and Director
To commemorate the fifth anniversary of FINAL FANTASY XIV, the developers have written messages to you, the players, reflecting on their efforts in building the world you've come to know and love!
To the Warriors of Light, who play FINAL FANTASY XIV day after day: It's because of all of you that we've reached our fifth anniversary. I definitely feel that your enthusiasm and devotion to the game are what has supported us over the course of these five years. Thank you so much! I've spent many a day adventuring around Eorzea myself, so thinking about my time as a player over the last five years makes me quite...emotional? Haha.
It's safe to say that FFXIV will continue to get better and better. In fact, the development team is already charging headlong into the next big thing. With that in mind, I hope you'll all carry on with your adventures for a long time to come. Here's to the future!
Congratulations to FINAL FANTASY XIV for reaching its fifth anniversary! And thank you to everyone!
As I write this message, I have the overwhelming sense that these five years have gone by so quickly, and they're chock-full of memories. I'll admit that development wasn't always smooth sailing. There've been some tough times, and things sometimes don't go as planned. Even so, hearing from the players online, at events like Fan Festival, and in Eorzea itself makes me realize how lucky I am to have this opportunity. Please, keep giving us your feedback!
It's been five years since FINAL FANTASY XIV was reborn, so as one of the programmers, I had to get the game running on new hardware. It's a change I've welcomed, but it's also kind of sad when the things I bent over backwards to make for the old hardware become obsolete. I've gone through a lot of ups and downs laying the foundations so that the players can enjoy their time in the world of FFXIV. Of course, this is by no means the end, as the world continues to grow. No one knows what will happen in five years from now, so there'll be all sorts of challenges as we make everyone's adventures bigger and better.
I would first like to extend my gratitude to Warriors of Light worldwide for making this achievement, our fifth anniversary, possible. Thank you so, so much. Though it goes without saying: without your staunch support, we could never have continued development and service for this long.
You, our protagonists, will be just as vital as we further expand the world and story of FINAL FANTASY XIV. Please continue to join me in weaving the tale of the Warrior of Light!
May you ever walk in the light of the Crystal.
And just like that, five years have gone by. Did the flow of time speed up or something?
The fact that everyone keeps playing FINAL FANTASY XIV is what's allowed us to run it for so long. Then there are the members of staff who are always pushing themselves until the last minute to create something special. Thanks to all of you!
There is still a lot of room to try new visual designs and conjure up things for the players to experience, so I'll do my best to keep that momentum going. Now that I think about it, I've been working on this game since the development stages of the original FFXIV, so that's ten years. I've spent my thirties doing this, but I don't regret any of it!
I hope you'll continue to lend us your support!
FINAL FANTASY XIV has come so far to get where it is today, and it's all thanks to the players. It's been such a rare treat over the course of these five years to get feedback from all of the Warriors of Light around the world─whether at events, online, or in the game itself─as we're creating and running everything. We hope you'll continue to voice your opinions and show your love for the game in the future, too. I and the other members of the development and operations teams will keep giving our all to make FFXIV successful for years to come!
With the rebirth of FINAL FANTASY XIV, Yoshi-P gave us the goal of making a game we could keep going for ten years or more. Since then, five years have passed, and while it feels like time's flown by, we're only halfway there and still have tons of things to do!
The world of FFXIV is both comfortingly familiar and constantly growing, and I aim to carry on upgrading the UI to make everyone's time there as enjoyable as possible. I hope you'll continue to support us!
Thank you all so much for playing FINAL FANTASY XIV. These past five years of patches, expansions, and fan events were only possible with your support.
Your passion both in and out of the game has served as more than a small bit of encouragement. It has strengthened our resolve to do better, to challenge ourselves and grow as developers so that we can provide you with the best gaming experience possible. For that, you have my sincerest thanks.
The road ahead has never looked brighter, and I hope you'll continue with us on our journey to see what the future holds.
With the help of all of the Warriors of Light, FINAL FANTASY XIV has reached its fifth anniversary. Thank you, everyone!
While the story continues to grow even beyond the realm of Eorzea, we programmers have been carrying out all kinds of changes to improve the overall experience, such as adding new duties, enemies, and housing areas; expanding the inventories, and implementing cross-world parties and linkshells. But it's not all hard work. My friends and I have cleared floor 100 of Heaven-on-High. Five times! Anyway, there's plenty more in the pipeline that we're sure you'll enjoy!
Nearly five years have passed since, amidst feverish efforts, a realm was reborn.
The solemn chill in Ishgard's streets, the open skies above the Sea of Clouds, Gyr Abania with its pall of tragedy, the rays of light that pierce the depths of the Ruby Sea, the windswept expanses of the steppe, and the bittersweet tales of the people who call these places home─none could have come to life without the adventurers who journeyed so far to stand here today.
Throughout these five years, there have been days brimming with joy, but also those marred by sadness or exhaustion. When I think of everything that has led us to celebrating this milestone together, it feels nothing short of miraculous.
With the deepest gratitude will I pour my heart into this tale that transcends borders.
May we continue to forge this path together for years to come.
It's been five years. Five years in which I've grown as a translator, as a developer, as a person. Five long years in which I've failed, and lost faith, and wanted to give up more times than I can count.
But because FFXIV was there for me, and fans all over the world were there for FFXIV, I've always been able to hold on to my motivation, to try harder each day than the last.
I love this game, after all. I hope you continue to love it too.
Somehow, while I've been working on day-to-day tasks, five years have passed. Although I've often been painfully aware of my own shortcomings, I'm still ecstatic that we're able to celebrate the fifth anniversary with all of the players.
There are so many people involved in every aspect of FFXIV─not just the in-game updates, but expanding the playerbase to a global level, organizing events, promoting the game, running the official websites, customer support, legal advice, and so on. But the only reason we're able to keep going full steam ahead on such a massive scale is because of you, the fans. The hashtags for events and the release of Stormblood, as well as all your feedback and support, have been a huge source of encouragement. As always, we're extremely grateful.
It's been a busy five years, and if you include all of the staff from the original FFXIV, plus everyone who's joined since then, I've worked alongside a lot of people. We all have our own ideas about how to make the game better overall, and thankfully, most of the players seem to enjoy what we produce. That's why we're able to celebrate our fifth anniversary, and I'm incredibly grateful to the staff and the players. Thank you, everybody!
Personally, the thing that makes me happiest is to be able to continue working on FFXIV. I'll do everything I can to see this game reach its tenth─or even its fifteenth─anniversary, so please wish us luck!
Thank you all for your words of encouragement! You know, I've been doing patch after patch, with development beginning as soon as the previous one has launched. Then all of a sudden, I realize that five years have gone by.
We always aim to create an experience that meets everyone's expectations and repays all of the support you've given us. The fact that so many people play our game really motivates us as we continue to work on it. On the system side of things, we're absolutely inundated with new things to do, so we'll keep pushing ourselves to make FFXIV better and more enjoyable than ever. I hope you'll stick around!
I'm sure whether it's been "Five years already?" or "Only five years?" is a matter of perception, but as I look back on it all right now, I find myself thinking "already?"
The year we first celebrated the Rising, I was surprised to note that I had traveled over 150,000 kilometers by air in a single year. Four years on, I've now flown far enough that I might as well have been to the moon and back (800,000 km).
Thank you so much for supporting us the whole way!
This year will also bring with it our third round of FFXIV FanFests. Once again, your passion has motivated us to expand our Tokyo event, which we will be holding on an exponentially larger scale than last time! I know I say this every time, but believe me, this one is really going to be amazing.
As we look forward to the next five years, remember: Hear... Feel... Have Fun!
A lot has happened during these five years of designing battles for FFXIV.
The thing I remember most vividly is the development of Pharos Sirius. That was the first time I was in charge of designing the fights in a dungeon, and I went a little overboard. I may have made it a bit too hard. (^-^;) My bad.
Our staff has worked very hard to become the type of developers who can create not only great primal battles and 8- or 24-man raids, but new duties like Ultimate raids, Deep Dungeons, and Eureka as well.
Please continue to support us as we try new things and work to create even more encounters for you to enjoy!
Greetings, Warriors of Light! Thank you for helping us reach our fifth anniversary!
I'd like to show my appreciation or tell you an anecdote, but I'm not much of a writer and the message would probably be way too short. So, in the true spirit of a game developer, I'd like to "say it with numbers."
Mounts: About 120
Minions: About 300
Weapons: About 3,700
Clothing Items: About 9,000
Total Items: About 23,000
* Up to and including Patch 4.3.
As you can see, I've made tons and tons of items! Hopefully, everyone has an item or two that holds a special place in their heart. Of course, I'll be making a lot more from now on, too.
Here's to you─the players─and your continued support!
It's crazy to think that five years have passed already! It feels like yesterday that we were sending out alpha and beta invites, gathering feedback, and ramping up to our relaunch. Releasing two expansions and numerous patches, and hosting many live events, has kept us all busy and working hard. The impetus behind all of that is simple—it’s because of the support that we’ve received from the community. Having the chance to talk with our players via live streams, social media, the forums, or meeting face-to-face at events is something I wouldn’t give up for anything. Feeling the excitement and energy from our players helps recharge our batteries and spurs us to continue working hard. I’m sure I’m echoing many of the sentiments made by other team members, but we’ll keep doing our best to bring you unforgettable experiences!
It's been five years since A Realm Re─huh? F-Five years? Already!? Although...looking back, it kind of feels like I've done ten years' worth of work in that time. At least.
I've done so many different kinds of work on this project: assignments, bug fixes, sound effect and voice recording, music composition, audio composition and post production for promotional videos, orchestra and piano concerts, shows with the band, live announcements during FATEs, soundtracks and arrangement albums...but none of it would have been possible without the players.
We creators are ridiculously lucky to have you.
Thank you so much, and keep on playing FFXIV!
It's already been five years since the launch of A Realm Reborn! We would never have reached this momentous occasion without all of the Warriors of Light! Thank you so much!
These five years have gone by in the blink of an eye for the development team, and nothing would make me happier than to know that the players felt the same way. We'll do our best to make this game equally engrossing for the next five years too!
Again, I'd like to thank all of the Warriors of Light from the bottom of my heart! We look forward to seeing you all in the world of FINAL FANTASY XIV!
With the relaunch of FFXIV, Yoshi-P said that we'd make an MMO that would last for ten years. Since then, we've had major updates every three or four months, and I've never experienced such a crazy schedule. But thanks to all the amazing support we've had, I now feel that ten years is too short, and if possible, I'd like to dedicate my working life to FFXIV as a games developer and as a Warrior of Light, since I enjoy both roles so much.
I've been working on the UI and other systems with "HQ" Hiroshi Minagawa, and we've learned so much from the players themselves, who've formed such an amazing community and have shown us new ways to play the game. It'd be great to add something unusual along the lines of Khloe's Wondrous Tails, so we're giving that some thought. We aim to bring more features on the system side, so keep an eye out for them!
Thank you for playing FFXIV!
As one of the longest-serving members of the original FFXIV team, the fact we've been able to run this game for five years delights me more than anything else. Of course, I am very grateful to all of the players, but I'd also like to give thanks to the development team and all of the other members of staff who've supported us.
Another thing that perhaps goes without saying is that we've faced a lot of hardship along the way. When a new patch is released, we worry that there might be bugs, or we wonder how the players will react, so we rarely have a chance to relax. Even so, we'll give it our all so that we can celebrate more anniversaries in the years to come!
Congratulations to FFXIV and thank you to all of the players!
The deeds of the Warriors of Light over the last five years have echoed far beyond the borders of Eorzea and into our own world, leading to a televised drama series, Fan Festivals, and much more. Who can say where fate will lead the Warriors of Light next? What adventures await them? And will I ever return as a Warrior of Light myself?
As long as even one of the Warriors of Light remains, I want to keep building this beloved realm!
(I got burned out playing as a healer, so I'm thinking I'd be better off as DPS. Should I avoid tank? Harder than healer, you say? Hmm... Well, I'll return as something or other. /cry)
Thank you. You'll probably read several dozen variants of that in our other comments, but it bears repeating. We can't say it enough times or in enough ways. Thank you all so much for five indescribable years.
Back in 2013, when we came together to rebuild a broken world─that we ourselves had broken, to be fair─there were a lot of long days and hard nights. Never enough time to do what you had to do. So I told myself, if months and years later, I could look back on my work and honestly say that, under the circumstances, I gave it my all...that would be more than enough for me. It'd have to be, right?
I guess I never considered what would happen if it was more than enough for others, too.
I go back and forth between pride and confusion. Joy and dread. I mean, you see these characters you've spent forever and a day writing resonate with people, see their lines quoted, and it's like, "Congrats, you're part of the cultural zeitgeist!" or whatever, albeit a teensy-weensy bit.
But then comes that lingering suspicion that it was all a fluke or a trick or a fever dream. That I'm having an Owl Creek Bridge moment at my desk after the metacritic score of negative ten thousand for ARR gave me a stroke. That Alphinaud's still a smug little punk.
I doubt I'm the only one who wonders from time to time. After all, it felt like triage at first, what with us trying to make the best of a bad situation. But as the game started to come together, I think it gradually dawned on us that maybe, just maybe, not only would it not suck, but be...dare I say...kinda good?
Is this now? Did the past five years really happen?
Huh. Still seems weird. Probably always will.
But maybe it's better that way.
It's been five years since A Realm Reborn launched on August 27, 2013, and almost eight years since I started working on the original FFXIV. The first thing that springs to mind is "hasn't time flown?" which is a bit of a cliché, but when I stop to reflect on everything, all the memories come flooding back and I realize just how eventful the years have been.
To tell the truth, these last eight years have been the most challenging for me, for better or worse. I'm still a game developer, and my sleeping pattern hasn't changed much, except now my life revolves almost entirely around FFXIV. And not just from making and running the game, but as one of the Warriors of Light too. So yeah, it keeps me pretty busy...
None of this would've been possible without the many people who've guided me along the way. Of course, I'm talking about Warriors of Light around the world who've supported us these eight years, as well as the development and operations teams, who are always so patient with me. There isn't a specific point we're trying to get to with FFXIV, but there's still so much we want to do with this game, and we've got a lot of surprises in store that I think you're going to enjoy. The world of FINAL FANTASY XIV is a culmination of everyone's devotion and commitment, and the future is what we make it, together. I hope you'll all be there to see where this journey takes us!